VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires New Holdings in CME Group Inc. $CME

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 351,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $96,770,000. CME Group accounts for 0.7% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in CME Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in CME Group by 206.9% during the 2nd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 89 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in CME Group by 84.3% during the 2nd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CME Group by 612.5% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CME Group news, General Counsel Jonathan L. Marcus sold 392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.00, for a total transaction of $102,704.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 7,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,056,962. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William R. Shepard bought 262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $265.19 per share, with a total value of $69,479.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 258,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,540,742.21. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,043 shares of company stock valued at $3,527,956. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ CME opened at $267.93 on Friday. CME Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $290.79. The company has a market capitalization of $96.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $267.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 58.48% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. CME Group’s payout ratio is 48.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of CME Group from $309.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of CME Group from $300.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of CME Group from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $298.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on CME Group from $303.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.71.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.